The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-02-10
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Feb. :, 1887.
Special Correspondence Palatka News.
Some very important changes are about
to he mf de in the Treasur, department.
Secretary Manning, it will he remem-
time Of his illness, and although the res
ignation il still i'm the hands of the Presi
dent and has not been acted upon, MIR.
Manning has announced his int ention of
Withdrawing from the Cabinet. Treas
urer Jordan has also rendered his resig-
date action, though he may possibly
continue in office until the adjournment
of Congress. Mr.. Manning will fill the
position of president, and Mr.. Jordan
that of vice pre- sident of the New West
ern National Bank Of New York City"
which will begin business on the first Of
May. Applications for more than ~ 900
900 of stock In the hank have been re-
ceived. but only s3,0oO.oo0 will Ice ac-
cepttd.
The second State dinner Of the season
was given by the President and Mrs
Cleveland, in honor of the Diplomatic
CoTIs, on Thursday evening last. The
representatives of twenty three of the
/ thirty friendly nations usually repre-
scented attended in full court costume.
MIS- Cleveland had been especially in
terest.d in both the arrangements and
in the personnel OF the party invited TO
| meet them, and the State apart ments
! u ere richly decorate q with flow ers. The
East Room, where the guests met Mrs.
| Cleveland. was transformed into a bower.
! The recent passage of the Mexican
! Pension Bill will necessitate the employ
ment of two hundred and fifty additional
clerks in the Pension Office. Commits
siOner Black is preparing for the trying
Orde al, and says that he will endeavOr to
| complete the examination of the 10000
applications from this sonIcs before the
expiration of the present fiscal year.
Although the additional clerical force
which Is to be appointed, will be n qpired
but few months. applications for APP
pOintment are being received daily, and
the Commissioner thinks that there " i'll
be no fewer than five thousand applica-
tions upon file by the time of making ap-
pOintment arrives.
The War Department has of late been
engaged in cole information con-
corning the strength the militia force
of the United States, and the reports
which have been received from the adj
! lutant generals of the various States are
very encouraging. The reports for the
past year show an increase Of 1000 in
the organized branch of the militia force.
There are at the present time over 81 OWI
milItiamen in a state Of thorough organ
ization, and over 200, 900 men available
for military service.
One Of the most disting uished gather.
ings that have assembled at q ban
quet in Washington in manv years war
the party that gathered at Chamber
iain's. on "Wednesday evening last, az
guests of MIR. William Walter PhelI 5, in
honor of MIR. Hiscock's election to the
United States Senate. Among those
present were Mr.. West, the British Min
ister; Speaker Carlisle, Senator Sherman
Secretary Lamar. Murat HaIstead. of the
CINCINNATI commercial Ga2etfe: Sena
tor Evarts. x-SenatOr Plat. Represen.
tative Morrison, Senator Sewell, Hon.
Levi l.. Morton, Henry WattersOn. of the
Louisville Journal; Chauncey
NJ. Depue. Secretary Whitney, Gen
Sheridan. Justice BIatchford, Represen.
tives Reid. Randall, Aston, and McKin-
ley, and Whitelaw Reid, of the New
York ItibHHe. The table decorations
were elegant. a huge bouquet Of JAG.
quinOt roses rested IN the center OF the
table. FOur candesticks. each bearing
five candles, served to light the festive
board. No speeches were mad, and the
affair was almost informal IN its nature.
The senate devoted much of it's time
during the past week to the discussion OF
Senator Beck's bill prohibiting Senators
and members of Congress from receiving
fees from railroad companies during their
terms of Office. During the discussion,
which was participated in by nearly all
of the Senators, some of the ablest
speeches of the session were made, and
the bill was passed n Friday evening by
a vote of 20 by IA.
An excursion party from Northern and
Central New York, numbering upw ards
of one thousand persons, arrived i'm the
city on ThVrrday, and spent the two or
three days of their stay in visiting the
var ,ous points of interest II,